


Sunflowers and Violets

by ThePrimeOne



Series: Drabbles in the Dark [15]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: """Drabble""", F/M, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, Fluff, Garlands, Light Angst, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25088062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePrimeOne/pseuds/ThePrimeOne
Summary: He knew that Petra was usually one to break traditions- Fodlan's traditions at least.He'd suspected that the same would be true in this case. So of course, there’d be no harm in trying himself.Or, in which Ashe tries to give Petra a garland and it works out better than he expects.
Relationships: Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Petra Macneary
Series: Drabbles in the Dark [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1591558
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	Sunflowers and Violets

**Author's Note:**

> For the Felannie Fever server's 'Drabble in the Dark' challenge. This week's prompt was: Garlands.

Mercedes had first suggested the idea over tea the second day after taking refuge at Fhirdiad after its liberation. The young woman was weaving various flowers and pieces of string through one another for a certain special someone when she spoke it into existence, and Ashe was surprised he hadn't thought of it first.

"You look quite tired today, Ashe," Mercedes remarked, carefully picking up a steaming teapot adorned with flowers on it. "Would you like Mint or Angelica, by the way?"

"Oh, just angelica please. And yes, very tired. I was helping some of the citizens with the rebuilding efforts. Though honestly, tired doesn't begin to describe it." the young man politely replied with a small laugh, watching her prepare his tea. Feeling anxious, he eyed the goods from a local bakery intensely. Before swiping away a cookie from the large stack at the table and downed it quickly to Mercedes' amusement. 

It was a thank-you present from a local bakery for assisting in repairs for damaged homes and businesses amidst the battle in Fhirdiad. It wasn't much, but Mercedes accepted it all the same, reassured by the fact that the people welcomed back Dimitri and the resistance army.

"My, someone is quite hungry. I can only imagine the kind of workload you had to deal with," the holy woman giggled.

Ashe sheepishly smiled as they continued their conversation, speaking of the seemingly endless work they'd tried to chip away at for assisting Fhirdiad's citizens and the healing the injured in the resistance army for when His Highness would inevitably call to match back to Garreg Mach. Realising how dreary the conversation was making their atmosphere and their tea, Mercedes eagerly moved onto other topics of interest- one being the garland she was in the process of making.

"Who's it for?" Ashe blurted out of curiosity. Shaking her head and pressing a finger to her lips, Mercedes's mouth arched up into a cheeky smile.

"It's a secret," she winked.

Ashe should've been- and was, hardly surprised. It was quite rude to ask someone something so personal on a whim. Before he could get a chance to correct his mistake, Mercedes seized the opportunity.

"How about you, Ashe? Are you expecting to receive a garland from someone?" she asked innocently. "I'm sure there'll be someone who'd be eager to give you one after seeing how much you've grown in the past few months."

Ashe coughed into his elbow, vainly trying to hide his flushed face. "W-well, I definitely wouldn't mind, I guess. But…"

"...But?" she asks, curious.

He'd been meaning to open up about this to someone, and he supposed there were none better than the mother Lioness of the Blue Lions herself. "...It would be nice if a certain someone does give me one."

Mercedes' smile didn't change, but there was a glint in her eyes that changed. Ashe could feel it. "Oh? If you're so concerned about that, then why not make one and give it to them yourself?"

He blinked and pondered the idea for a moment.

He knew that Petra was usually one to break traditions- Fodlan's traditions at least. Be it five years ago when (at her insistence) they took turns leading each other in fumbled slow dances at the top of the Goddess Tower to an unfamiliar tune she hummed as the stars shone down on them. Or two moons ago when she'd successfully passed the Brawler class exam simply because she wanted to prove a point. 

(He wasn't sure why she'd insisted he train with her one-on-one, or with Professor Byleth on occasion for the exam. After all, Caspar, Dedue, Raphael and Balthus would have made for better sparring partners, but after managing to land hits on an on-guard Dedue in a sparring match, and his conversation with Petra in the cathedral that night, he understood why.)

He'd suspected that the same would be true in this case. So of course, there’d be no harm in trying himself.

Ashe stared down at his steaming cup of Angelica tea, watching his reflection distort from ripples caused by the slight shake of his hand. He wasn't sure why the thought of doing so made him so nervous- or perhaps anxious was the right word? Not that it mattered, he supposed. Now there were too many questions he had on his mind. Too many that were distracting him from, well, everything except her. Not that he'd ever admit that aloud.

"Of course, it's up to you whether you'd like to do that," the older woman spoke up, snapping him out of his thoughts. Ashe sat up and looked at Mercedes who smiled so radiantly it was almost blinding, eager to hear him out about his problems. He was rather grateful, knowing she didn't give him a hard time about it.

"Well, I suppose that makes sense. Petra told me she was a problem for Adrestian nobility, going against the grain, but she always took that in stride. She wouldn't mind if I did the same," Ashe smiled when memories of the stories she told him five years ago resurfaced in his mind, recalling when they'd hudde together near the fireplace at the one of the knight's training grounds and tell each other stories and folktales of Fodlan and Brigid. 

He blinked when a sudden realisation set in.

"W-wait-"

"Oh, Petra, hm?" Mercedes wondered aloud, sipping her tea. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised, she certainly seems to like you a great deal, as do you. You two are also rather close are you not?"

Ashe's mouth arched down into a small frown. Were they? They did spend a great deal of time together, but so did plenty of others in the army. They were friends. Comrades in arms.

Like His Highness and the Professor.

Or Felix and Annette.

Or Hilda and Caspar.

Or Dorothea and Yuri.

His frown dropped further as he scrunched his eyebrows together.

Ashe remained silent for a few moments longer as he ruminated on his rationalization. He recalled Petra's odd insistence of sitting next to him during war meetings, Ashe going to her first to ask for assistance with assigned tasks, all the training they did together, their tea times, Ashe showing her what life was like on the streets and their stop at the back alley restaurant, and their conversation at the cathedral that made his heart soar in the moment and every time he thought about it after.

He realised that the conclusion he reached wasn't exactly rational. He was in denial, above all else

...So perhaps Mercedes had a point, Ashe realised. But despite his embarrassment, he was grateful. Mercedes could at least keep a secret; because Sothis forbid someone like _Sylvain_ find out and blurt it out all over camp, even if only by accident.

Ashe cleared his throat. "Well, I think I might just do that. Thank you for the suggestion, Mercedes." He grumbled with embarrassment fresh on his cheeks, and drank the remainder of the tea in one fell swoop and carefully placed it back with its matching saucer.

"Your welcome, Ashe," the holy woman giggled at his sudden eager tone. She pushed the plate laden with sweets towards him, motioning for him to eat more.

"Oh! Do ask Hilda to help when you get the chance. She's quite good at that sort of thing."

Taking a few of the sweets for himself, he made sure to keep that piece of advice in the back of his mind for after they'd inevitably arrive back at Garreg Mach. 

.

.

.

A week later when he timidly knocked on the door to her room and entered quietly with her permission, he was surprised to find her dorm room flooded with a comically large amount of flowers from her desk to the corners of her room.

"Ashe! What a surprise it is to see you here. Ugh, sorry for the mess," Hilda groaned, picking up some of the fallen flowers. "What can I do for you?" she cheerfully asked him, swiping up the last of the nearby violets off the floor and carefully placing it near an incomplete crown of flowers of the same variety, hanging next to various other garlands next to it.

"Mercedes told me to find you," he began to explain. "She told me that you could help me with garlands."

She blinks at him for a moment before it sinks in what he's asking of her, and Hilda's eyes sparkle. "Ooh, yes I can! Y'know, I was wondering if there'd be another guy who'd ask me to make one. Honestly, I think more guys should do it- the giving and making part I mean, the making part is _so tedious_ and requires so much _work_ ," she said with a huff, despite the mess in her room "Nothing wrong with a break of tradition, y' know?"

While Ashe agreed, something she said made him raise an eyebrow. "Another?" he asks incredulously. 

"Yep!" she says with a small pop in her voice. "It was Dimitri, if you can believe it. Poor guy wanted to make one himself, but Mercie told me that he's not so good with delicate stuff like that. So now it's up to me to make one for our lovely Professor."

"His Highness? For the Professor?" Ashe questions her, almost dumbfounded.

"Of course. Poor guy is smitten with her, didn't you know?" she giggles, pointing to a finished garland adorned with various white flowers, one that would normally be a part of a bridal outfit, like brides at the weddings he had to attend soon after he was adopted. He'd heard of a certain blunder involving His Highness, a girl and a dagger. He wondered if Dimitri realised the implication behind such a gift. 

"Speaking of, actually," Hilda leans over, elbow propped onto her desk, her face nestled into her hand. "I assume someone's caught your eye, Ashe?" she grins at him, clearly teasing him. Shifting uncomfortably when her face lights up just like Mercedes' did a week ago, he clears his throat and sheepishly nods.

"Uh, yeah. Something like that," he mumbles with a silly smile pulling up at the corners of his lips. 

"Aww, how adorable! I'm sure whoever the lucky girl is will be over the moon to receive one from you," she cooed, much to his embarrassment. She pulled out a small quill pen and some spare paper, and dipped the pen into a small bowl of ink and etched his name on the page in such extremely neat and cursive writing that Ashe is almost jealous that it seems to come so seamlessly to her.

"So, tell me Ashe, what kind of flowers would you like on this garland?" she asked him as she rhythmically tapped the pen on the page’s corner. "It'll have to be something I can find easily, either at the garden or at the fake kinds some of the merchants sell."

"Sunflowers," he said immediately, and with such absolute certainty that it had Hilda surprised for a moment. "She, um, really likes sunflowers. So just sunflowers. Yeah," he awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Alright, sunflowers it is then," Hilda hums, writing 'sunflowers' under his name and throwing it in a pile with various other small pieces of paper with other names he recognised.

Marianne

Hapi

Dimitri

Annette

Petra

_Wait. What?_

"...Ashe? Ashe!" she raised her voice and her hand, waving it in front of his face. His eyes snapped down to Hilda whose head was tilted, looking at him strangely. 

“Y-yes, Hilda?” Ashe stammered.

"I completely forgot, but who's the garland for?" she asked bluntly, as if she seriously expected him to answer the question.

"I'm sorry?" he asked, blinking in confusion. "Why would you need to know that?"

Hilda smirked and shook her head. "Oh, Ashe, how am I supposed to know what size to make the garland if I don't even know whose head it's going to sit? Don't worry. I promise I'll keep who it's for a secret."

Ashe bit his lip. He supposed she had a point, but knowing Hilda, she'd insist regardless.

"...It's for Petra," Ashe mumbled, bracing himself for her reaction.

"Aww, that's so cute!" Hilda squealed, etching her name down under Ashe's. "I knew you'd finally figure it out eventually. Soon Caspar'll owe me a bullion," she sang happily.

Ashe balked at the young woman's insinuation that people made bets on them. "You and Caspar bet money on us?" an utterly perplexed Ashe asked.

"Not just us," Hilda said cryptically, placing the piece of paper back at the top of the pile again. "I'll have yours done as soon as I can, a few days give or take. And don't worry about compensation, okay?"

Taking that as a sign to leave, he thanked Hilda again and quickly retreated from her room to leave her to work, still wondering who the receiver of Petra's garland would be.

.

.

.

Two days later, he received a surprising visitor to his room, from one Hilda Valentine Goneril shortly after finishing his assigned duties for the morning. Hilda took a small item out of a basket amongst many others, revealing a meticulously made crown of sunflowers, "one fit for a Princess," she'd told him with a wink as she left. Ashe spent the rest of the little time he had before the midday war meeting racking his brain to find an excuse to give her the flowers. 

Unfortunately, there was seldom a time where someone hadn't occupied a part of the monastery.

Monks, soldiers, and merchants occupied all areas in some way all at one time. Cyril was unpredictable too. One moment he could be cleaning the Library, the next moment he would magically appear at the monastery gates helping a merchant and one of the Knights of Seiros move some goods for them. 

Ashe wanted this to be a private affair, but the thought of being forward enough to invite her into his room in the middle of the day when anyone could see them by accident and get the wrong idea made him red in the face; and Sothis forbid someone see them should he try to do the same at night. It made him wither in embarrassment. He continued to rack his brain for a few more moments until a knock at the door snapped him out of his thoughts. Hilda had come back around again with Caspar in tow, the young man yelling for Ashe to hurry up, and the young woman groaning about having to go to the war meeting in the first place. 

Placing the garland carefully on his desk, he briskly followed quietly behind the couple to the unusually noisy war room; his eyes were scanning the room and almost predictably landing on Petra first amongst the crowded room. To his surprise, she was wearing a worn, short-sleeved dark beige dress that stopped at just below her knees instead of the usual Brigidi outfit she wore at war meetings. As Ashe pondered upon this observation, he stopped when her eyes drifted to his direction. Before he could catch himself from staring, her head had already turned his direction entirely, displaying a smile that seemed almost shy.

A strange thought, considering shy was seldom a word he'd used to describe her. 

Returning the friendly gesture from across the room, His Highness, the Professor and Gilbert strode in not a second later, the room coming to a quieted hush almost immediately. Quickly finding their seats, Ashe took a seat between Caspar and Annette near the back of the room. Ashe noted that Petra took one directly opposite him, sparing him a split-second glance before her attention directed itself to the front of the room.

He didn't think much of it, though Ashe admittedly felt it odd that she wasn't by his side- strictly in the literal sense. The war meeting in question dragged out longer than expected as Gilbert droned on about reports coming from Fhirdiad, Hilda shifting in her seat and grumbling under her breath every few minutes, Linhardt falling asleep earlier than normal. Even Lorenz had slumped over in his seat.

Ashe didn't need to look to know Petra would be struggling to sit still, and yet he did. He tilted his head towards her the moment she immediately looked away, starting an amusing game of cat and mouse as they exchanged small glances that persisted for most of the meeting.

Unbeknownst to them, the Professor had picked up on this, a tiny ghost of a smile appearing on her lips.

As Gilbert (finally) finished his piece, she quickly ended the meeting, giving everyone time off to rest for the remainder of the day. Ashe slumped in his chair when everyone almost simultaneously stood up and eagerly filed out of the room, Hilda dragging Caspar by the hand as they exchanged rushed farewells. The crowded room eventually faded to just a few people as he left in tow of Petra, who'd asked the young man to walk with her.

"I am wishing to be asking you something- but not here," she whispered rather urgently to him. Without the thought of saying no crossing his mind, he'd quickly followed her out of the war room to the now destroyed Black Eagles classroom.

Their conversation had been unusually brief and awkward- filled with little but small talk, as if they'd both were dancing around… something. A voice in the back of mind egged him on to give him the garland; after all, it _was_ just a fancy bundle of flowers, yet Petra still beat him to the punch.

"Ashe?" she called out to him from across the room, clearing her throat.

"Y-yes, Petra? What's wrong?" asked Ashe in concern, the tone of her voice betraying the normally confident posture and expression on her face.

"Can you be meeting me at the pond tonight? I have been thinking about our arrangement and wish to speak to you about it; but the day time does not provide the privacy I want," she frowned, looking to the classroom entrance, two tufts of pink and light blue hair once peeking in disappearing away.

A lips tugged up into a wry smile. At least he had time and an excuse to give her the garland now.

And besides, he was hardly one to say no to her a friend.

.

.

.

Ashe couldn't blame Petra for wanting to meet at the pond that night. Though he rarely left his room after dark, the night did have a certain… allure to it, he had to admit. Perhaps it was the breeze that passed through the monastery every so often; perhaps it was the moon that shone down on the earth with its angelic light, or the quiet of the night that allowed for intimate moments that light of day couldn't provide that made it so enticing.

A little over an hour after the dining hall had closed for the evening and most had retired to their rooms, Ashe struck a match in his room and lit the wick of a candle that sat comfortably in a lantern. Closing the small hatch and securing it shut, he tip-toed out of his room with the garland Hilda crafted so meticulously, hidden behind his back.

Trudging quietly to the nearby pond with the little lantern to guide his way, he approached the stall where the lake's caretaker resided during the day, taking one step around past it when he stopped, spotting his friend on the pier. There Petra stood her nightwear that flowed down to her ankles, with her hair sprawled out and not in the usual braids she kept it in. Her bear feet made not a single noise as she approached the pier's edge, with only the distant, soft groans of crickets and moving freshwater to accompany the silence. The stars and the moon's full light was on display, bearing down on Petra and the water as the lights shimmered on the water's surface, and surrounded her in its comforting light.

It was a sight to behold.

She was.

He shook himself out of his awestruck gaze and breathed a sigh of relief. Just on time. He took a step onto the wooden platform, a small, yet sharp creak had made Petra turn on her heels, meeting face to face. Though surprised for a moment, Petra appeared serene, her soft smile setting off something within him that had his heart beat faster.

"Hello, Ashe. I am having gratitude that you could meet me here," she spoke, though her voice was unusually quiet." Though his mouth dried, Ashe smiled confidently as he could and strove to her side. Carefully placing the lantern between them, he balled his left hand, hiding the item it held from plain sight.

"Well, it's not like I had much else to do tonight," Ashe shrugged, staring out at the lights reflected by the water.

Her lips quirked up slightly. "No, I suppose not."

A moment of a silence passed before Ashe took the initiative. "So, there was something you wanted to talk about?" asked Ashe, eyes unmoving. "You seemed unusually nervous earlier today. Is there something wrong with our promise?" he questioned her curiously. Though he didn't see it, the young princess's right arm shifted uncomfortably.

"Are you remembering in our academy days, when we sat in front of the fireplace in the Knight's Hall and told stories of Brigid and Fodlan to each other?" asked Petra.

Ashe hummed with the nod of his head. "Yeah, I do. I still recall the Salmon of Knowledge story," he smirked a little, memories swarming his mind again.

Petra's eyes caught the smirk on his face, and the princess rolled her eyes, bemused. "That is because you were laughing at the story."

"N-no, not the story, of course not!" Ashe stammered, missing the tone behind Petra's comment. "The story was quite fascinating really! It's just, when I heard it was a salmon, I…" Ashe trailed off, swearing he heard a giggle escape Petra's lips. He turned his gaze towards her. 

"Are you teasing me?" Ashe frowned, more than a little embarrassed. Petra mirrored Ashe's head turn, her gaze meeting his with the most neutral face she could muster with her eyebrows raised.

"...Petra?" he whispered uncomfortably under her gaze.

...Before it broke into a grin, her giggle louder than before. He knew he didn't hear things. 

"Please be having my apologies, Ashe," she spoke through her light laughter. "Your reactions give me much joy for their adorableness. I hope you are not offended."

Ashe's cheeks went rosy when he registered what she said. "Oh, no, I'm not." He took it in stride. Seeing her happy more than made up for any offense he could've taken away from that. "Seeing you smile like that more than makes up for it."

She looked away to hide her blushing cheeks, eager to move. "That is reassuring. Now, what was I saying? Oh yes. When we were telling our stories, there was one I was not telling you. May I tell you now, Ashe?" she tenderly asked him, shifting closer to him.

Ashe didn't move away. "I'm listening."

And so he did, for as long as she needed. Petra spoke of the story of a young girl. One who loved the land she lived on, who loved it's people all the same. The young girl grew happy with her family before her father suddenly left, with his promise of returning left unfulfilled. Then people from far away came to take her away. They ripped her from the clutches of her home. She didn't understand. The girl desperately tried to claw her way from the strangers who took her, to swim through the seas, desperately calling for the water spirit's blessing.

But none came.

And so she gave into despair for some time, locked away by the people who promised to keep her warm and safe. That night, the girl remembered after a dream. Her father was the King of her land. She was a Princess. She was- and had to be strong, to free her homeland; and so she made peace with her father's passing and steeled herself; to grow up faster than time would normally allow.

In that time, she soon met a boy far away from where she once remained locked away, One bright and ambitious, a hard worker with high aspirations that came from little. He inspired her. She wanted to know more about him. But time would not permit such things and their paths would split- and yet, after some time, they rejoined. The boy, now a man, had not changed. But the girl, now a woman, did not mind that. He was the light in her life, even if he did not realise it. 

And she was for him. The young man vowed to help the princess reclaim her land, to fight by her side and for its people. Even though he wanted nothing in return, she refused, and did what she could to help his dreasm come true, to make him more happy than anyone else.

They eventually became known as 'The Blue Sun,' bringing about a new dawn for the Princess' land. The Queen and her Knight who fought battle after battle on and off the battlefield for their eventual happy ending, her homeland reclaimed, and the knight claiming her heart as she did his.

Ashe listened intently and furrowed his brows as certain aspects of the story seemed both vaguely and obviously familiar. When she finished, Ashe ruminated over the story for a moment.

"The Blue Sun, huh?" Ashe wondered aloud. "Petra, I think that was a wonderful story," he said genuinely. "Though, it is strange. A reminds in some ways of, well, us. Is there any particular reason for that?" he asked tentatively, biting his inner lip. 

There were just too many things that lined up with Petra's past she had told him for it to be a coincidence. And he heard how the story ended. He wondered- hoped that maybe, just maybe he was reading the signs right, if there were any at all.

Petra turned to face him, her hands behind her back. "Ashe," spoke, her voice falling two octaves lower on a dime, and suddenly the woman he'd promised to follow back to her home transformed from Princess to Queen, a rare, yet fitting expression of ferocity appearing on her face.

Ashe gulped, but his expression didn't falter. He followed her lead and faced her, still hiding the garland behind his back, his hand aching to give it to her.

"As you know, when I am returning home, I will become Queen of Brigid. You too, shall be accompanying me as my Guardian Knight. This I know. But…" the future Queen faltered for a moment. "But now I have doubts. I was not having consideration for your family. I know your brother and sister mean much to you, and what I am asking of you may be too much. I am not wanting you to be promising me because of my smile."

Ashe frowned at her when her gaze dropped to the wooden pier beneath them. He wasn't sure what spurred this on, but he knew it was now or never.

"If am being too fast, or if you are unsure, then please-"

"Hey, stop that. Where did this come from?" he scolded her.

Petra looked up. "Stop? What am I… oh!" The young woman gasped, her voice shooting back up to two octaves when something appeared from behind Ashe's back, the young man placing it on her head. He wasn't sure how Hilda did it, but the crown of sunflowers fit perfectly on top of her head, and a strange, invisible weight had lifted off his chest.

"I made a promise, didn't I? When I make a promise, I only make it when I know I can follow through on it," he reassured her. "To return to Brigid to swim under the ocean and look at the sun beneath the waves with you, and to be your Guardian Knight… I'd love nothing more than to do that when the war is over. My siblings gave me their blessing in a letter I got a a little while ago. You have my word."

Petra looked at him, bewildered by the garland placed on her head. She took it off and observed each sunflower that was meticulously put together by Hilda's delicate hands. Her favourite flower. She placed it on her head again with a smile befitting them. "You look beautiful," he blurted out to Petra, who giggled at his embarrassed expression. 

"Ashe... thank you," she chuckled with a mutually flushed face. "But you are knowing what this tradition is meaning, yes? And that a woman is one that gives the flowers to their partner?"

He shrugged. "Well, you're always one to break traditions in Fodlan, aren't you? So I thought I could do it this time."

Petra grinned. "There are some traditions of Fodlan that I like on its own. Like this." Without a moment to spare him a thought, she stood on her toes and brought an item Ashe couldn't quite see out from behind her back and placed it on his head. It nestled comfortably in place.

"The violets are also your favourites, no? I was making sure Hilda made them to my liking with you on my mind. I was suspecting you would look quite… dashing with it on your head. It would seem I am right," she goofily grinned, so unlike her, yet so natural.

"I guess that makes two of us, huh?" Ashe chuckled. "Great minds think alike, as they say."

"Yes, they would be right," Petra agreed. Their laughter quickly came to an end, leaving only silence that straddled between comfortable and awkward. "Ashe. I am glad you have reaffirming… reaffirmed your promise. It brings me great joy- but there is something else I wish to tell you."

"I'm always here to lend you an ear, Petra," he said with little hesitation.

"Of course." She nodded. "Ashe. Our journey, our story is only beginning. I know when war is over, our journey together will be great and difficult. But when you are with me, I am feeling more hopeful that Brigid will reclaim its independence. That one day, Brigid and Fodlan's relations can repair. That story, The Blue Sun was not real. But I am wanting that to be our story, one that many will write and sing about for generations to come. And it is only just beginning. You are being important to me Ashe. More than a comrade. More than a friend. More than a Guardian Knight. More than words can be describing. Is this feeling true to you?"

"Petra…" Ashe breathed, his voice wracked with emotion when her eyes began to shine like the shimmering lights around them. "Yes. Yes. Yes, it is."

She took a step forward and put her hands tenderly on Ashe's cheeks as they burnt a brighter red, not unlike hers. "Then I am glad. I can only think of one way to be showing this feeling to you. May I be allowed to show you?"

Ashe's hands and arms snaked around her waist, pulling her close. "Yes, of course. But only if I can show you too."

"You may." Petra stood on her toes and Ashe leaned down, their faces, their lips inches away from each other.

_“Tá grá agam duit,_ Ashe. _”_

Though he couldn't speak in Brigidi, as if on instinct, he knew what she said.

"I love you too, Petra."

As they leaned in for a kiss that marked the beginning of their journey together with many more after, their garlands remained long forgotten as they fell off and floated together in the water that sparkled like gems behind the moon and starlight, as if they were one.

.

.

.

When Hilda discovered the garlands she made floating in the pond together, she mischievously grinned to herself.

One more piece of gossip to add to the pile, and one more bullion in her possession. Today was a good day.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, a 5k+ fic. Kinda crazy that I decided to slap on an extra zero there, but what can 'ya do?
> 
> Hopefully it turned out alright. I kinda had to rush the second half (I think).
> 
> Comments and Kudos are appreciated regardless.
> 
> Have a good one!


End file.
